Christopher Melton QC and Darryl Allen (instructed by Brendan Hope of Pannone LLP) today secured an anonymity order which prevented publication not only of the Claimant’s identity (and information calculated to lead to her identification) but also the publication of the facts and circumstances which gave rise to her successful clinical negligence claim.
In JIH v. News Group Newspapers Ltd [2010] EWHC 2818 (QB), Mr Justice Tugendhat accepted the general proposition that an anonymity order and a restriction on the publication of the subject matter of the proceedings were to be considered as alternatives to achieve the goal of preserving the claimant’s Article 8 right to respect for private and family life.  He said that any attempt to derogate from that general proposition would require “particularly close scrutiny”.  Today at the High Court in London, Mrs Justice Lang granted an anonymity order together with a restriction on the publication of the facts and circumstances which gave rise to the Claimant’s claim.”